While the Milwaukee Brewers' Tuesday 6-0 win over the St. Louis Cardinals wasn't itself all that dramatic, things got tense between the two National League Central rivals in the eighth inning. That's thanks largely to Brewers reliever Abner Uribe, who wound up making a "crotch chop" gesture at the visiting Cardinals dugout after a called strike three to Alec Burleson. Here's a look:
Burleson challenged the full-count strike three call by plate umpire Adam Hamari, but the review showed it just clipped the zone. Had the call been overturned, then Burleson's walk would've loaded the bases.
After the game, Uribe's gesture was, of course, the leading topic of discussion, and Brewers manager Pat Murphy sounded none too pleased with the 25-year-old right-handed reliever. Via MLB.com, Murphy said:
"That's unacceptable. It's just unacceptable. I don't know what got over him. I mean, he's been an emotional guy. But that kind of thing – that's just not how we do things, and I was embarrassed by it. Why are we doing it in a 6-0 game? What are we doing there? There must be something deeper that I don't know about. I love the kid. Believe me, I love the kid. There's so much good in this kid. He's been so great for us in so many ways. But that's unacceptable."
For his part, Uribe, through a translator, apologized to his own team for his actions. From the Associated Press:
"Everyone here knows me and knows who I am, and knows I have a bit of a history of being emotional out there. I think first I owe an apology to the Brewers. I owe an apology to my teammates, to my manager, all the bosses of the team. I understand that's unacceptable, to go out there and react in a way like that.
"But at the same time, I don't think it's unprofessional for their manager to be making signs towards our dugout saying that he's going to be hitting guys. There was an event that occurred during the practice today, too, and I don't think that was right. So, I have my teammates' back always."
Initially, tensions appeared to rise when Uribe, just before Burleson came to bat, buzzed Iván Herrera near his head with a fastball -- the third pitch of an eventual four-pitch walk. Herrera then said something to Uribe. "I wasn't disrespectful, (because) all I said, 'Keep it down,'" Herrera said, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "He's throwing 2-0 sinkers to my head. It's a little uncomfortable there. And then you go and do that to the entire team? That's disrespectful."
However, Uribe's accusations toward Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol added another layer to the story. "There was a sign he was doing every time 'Yeli' [Christian Yelich] or William [Contreras] was up to the plate," Uribe went on to say, via MLB.com. "There's a gesture he was making in the dugout. ... I don't think it's very professional for them to be making gestures like that, and I don't think it's right for any of my guys to be going out there with any fear in their heads that we may be getting thrown at, or they can't play the game they want to be able to play."
Uribe declined to elaborate on what he said he saw during Tuesday's batting practice. The Cardinals, for their part, denied Uribe's allegations. No Brewers batters have been hit by a pitch through the first two games of the series.
The two teams will meet on Wednesday for the series finale. Tuesday's outcome pushed the Brewers to 32-20 on the season. They lead the NL Central by 3 ½ games over the Cardinals, who presently occupy the third and final wild card spot in the NL.
